Cowboys' Biggest Keys to Having Successful NFL Offseason

The Dallas Cowboys head into the 2022 offseason at a bit of a crossroads. They won the NFC East in 2021, but they bowed out early in the postseason and face a very unfavorable cap situation.

Dallas is projected to be $21.2 million over the cap.

The Cowboys also have multiple key contributors slated to hit the free-agent market—including Michael Gallup, Cedrick Wilson, Dalton Schultz and Randy Gregory. There's a strong chance that Dallas experiences a fair amount of turnover in the coming months.

Like every other team in the NFL, the Cowboys also have needs to address.

The 2022 offseason will be critical to Dallas' success, or lack thereof, next season. Here, we'll examine the three biggest keys to making the Cowboys offseason a successful one.

The Cowboys won't be able to keep every impending free agent. However, it would behoove them to hang on to as many key players as possible.

"You let me get back with exactly the same players or the makeup of the same players and as healthy as we were, get me right back here and I'll take that and not at all complain," franchise owner Jerry Jones said, per Mickey Spagnola of the team's official website.

Ideally, at least one of the pass-catchers will be among them. Amari Cooper and CeeDee Lamb can be a quality receiving duo, but having a proven third option would be highly beneficial.

The challenge, of course, is finding enough cap space to re-sign players. Doing that may require restructuring the contracts of players like Cooper.

Cooper is scheduled to carry a cap hit of $22 million with only $6 million in dead money remaining on his deal. Converting a large chunk of his $20 million base salary into bonus money that is spread over future years could help the cap situation substantially.

Dallas will have to free up space wherever it can because while the core roster is solid, it isn't special enough to absorb multiple losses and still be a contender.

While bringing back key contributors will be important, it won't be enough to make Dallas a champion. The Cowboys have to find ways through free agency and the draft to improve their run defense.

The defense was great at creating turnovers in 2021, but it struggled to shut down opposing running games. In the playoff loss to the San Francisco 49ers, for example, Dallas surrendered 169 yards on the ground.

For the season, the Cowboys ranked 16th in rushing yards allowed and just 23rd in yards per carry surrendered.

Dallas will have to look to budget options on the free-agent market but could gain ground in the draft. Targeting a promising young run defender—like Utah linebacker Devin Lloyd—with the 24th pick in the draft would be a good first step.

Even with multiple losses, the Cowboys have enough offensive talent under contract to be potent on that side of the ball—guys like Cooper, Lamb, Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott will be back. However, Dallas may struggle if opponents regularly chew up yards and keep the Cowboys offense off the field via the ground game.

The Cowboys have to avoid dysfunction and distractions in 2022 if they hope to make a championship run. The challenge starts now, and it involves instilling some confidence in the coaching staff—specifically head coach Mike McCarthy.

McCarthy cannot currently feel too confident about his future in Dallas. Jones has openly discussed defensive coordinator Dan Quinn being "qualified" to be the next head coach. Jones' fascination with Sean Payton is an open-enough secret that host Keegan-Michael Key joked about it during the NFL Honors.

"Are these narratives unusual? Absolutely," McCarthy said on the Rich Eisen Show (h/t Mike Fisher of FanNation).

Even if McCarthy is on the hot seat, Jones and the Cowboys must make him feel otherwise. Coaching in the NFL is hard enough, and McCarthy isn't going to do a successful job of it if he spends the entire offseason thinking that every upcoming decision might cost him his job.

Cap and contract information via Spotrac.